Johnson steps into lecturers' pay dispute

Alan Johnson, the new education secretary, today urged lecturers' leaders to put the universities' pay offer to their members and end the marking boycott which threatens the graduation of thousands of students.

Mr Johnson's appeal was immediately rejected by Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the Association of University Teachers (AUT), who said members at the union's annual conference "gave a clear democratic mandate in a unanimous vote to reject the offer and continue with the assessment boycott".

She added: "What is clear is that this dispute will end when, and only when, their is a decent and credible offer on the table."

Mr Johnson, a former trade union leader, said it would be "incredible" if union leaders did not put the "very decent" 12.6% pay offer to their members.

His calls were echoed by the Tory higher education spokesman, Boris Johnson, who said: "This strike has gone on long enough. Lecturers have a legitimate grievance, but it is not right that students across the country should be penalised and potentially robbed of their degrees by this action."

But the dispute appeared to be escalating as employers threatened to withhold full pay from academic staff who refuse to mark papers and the annual conference of the AUT voted unanimously to continue its industrial action.

The second lecturers' union, Natfhe, warned that stopping pay would trigger a shutdown of universities and end any hope of students graduating this year.

Mr Johnson, a former head of the postal workers' union who last week took over the education portfolio from Ruth Kelly, said: "I hope that [the boycott] ends very soon. The employers have made a very decent offer, actually a very generous offer, but I hope the unions now put it to their members. I think if they do it will be accepted."

He said it was not for him to "step in" to resolve the dispute but stressed the significance of the latest offer from the employers of 12.6% over three years.

"For the unions not to put that to the members would be incredible," Mr Johnson said.

St Andrews University said it had concluded a local 12.5% deal with staff and all but one lecturer had now returned to normal working. Last week AUT members voted by a large majority to accept the deal but the ballot was overruled by the union on procedural grounds.

A spokesman for the AUT today said the situation at St Andrews had not changed and the lecturers would continue to be part of the national negotiations.

At Aberdeen, management said it would impose the deal and it would be the obligation of every striking lecturer to individually request that the pay rise not be processed.

At the University of Abertay Dundee, members of the AUT were warned that they would lose 30% of their pay if they continued with the marking boycott and the deductions used to pay a private consultancy to set exams so students could graduate on time.

The AUT and Natfhe rejected the 12.6% offer earlier this week and refused to put it to the membership, insisting that universities could afford to pay academics much more with the introduction of £3,000 tuition fees.

But the four unions representing support staff in universities are continuing to negotiate and said positive progress had been made. The Universities and Colleges Employers' Association said the offer was "at the limits of affordability" and would cost £2.3bn over three years. "The 12.6% offer easily exceeds the unions' original demand for one-third of tuition fee income," said a spokesman.

Natfhe reacted angrily to letters from Northumbria and Bournemouth universities warning they would withhold full pay from lecturers not carrying out all their duties. The union said refusal to pay staff would amount to locking them out, as they cannot be expected to work for no pay. This could effectively close down the universities, ending any hope of student graduation this year.

Andy Pike, a national official at Natfhe said: "The actions of Northumbria University management are deplorable. Never before has a university in the UK instigated a lock-out in any local or national dispute. These union-busting tactics will be resisted.

"Employers just cannot be allowed to refuse to pay all academic staff when they are carrying out 95% of their duties. The fact is that once the dispute is resolved, students will be able to progress. This escalation by management may now jeopardise the prospects of thousands of students. If the university is not going to pay our members clearly student exams will not be marked. This ridiculous threat should be withdrawn."

He added that Bournemouth University had threatened that it would withhold all of the salary of staff who did not produce their students' marks at least 14 calendar days before the relevant award examination board.

At the University of Northumbria, a Natfhe branch meeting reiterated its determination to continue the industrial action and demanded that the threat of pay docking be withdrawn within 24 hours.

Martin Levy, the branch chairman, said: "Management here has embarked on a dangerous course which risks damaging the university's reputation as well as students' prospects."

Northumbria University said the union's action was designed to harm students and the university's reputation but denied deducting pay amounted to a lock-out. The students' union issued a statement "condemning" the action of Natfhe members and supporting the university's decision to withhold pay.